Chapter 14 — The Summer Contract of Western Beauty and Beasts

That evening, after Tue An fell asleep, Bach Son proactively went to Nha Khanh's room and gently knocked on the wooden door. She opened the door, her eyes still slightly swollen from crying all day, looking at him with both surprised and cautious eyes.

"Can we talk?" he asked, his voice losing the coldness of the night before.

Nha Khanh nodded, invited him into the room, they both sat down at the small table next to the window. There was a long silence before Bach Son spoke first.

"I'm sorry for reacting harshly last night," he said, his voice low. "I understand, everyone has the right to keep their own secrets, especially painful ones. But I hope you understand, I'm not angry because you have debt, I'm angry because I'm afraid, afraid for An's safety, and yours too."

Nha Khanh bowed her head, clasping her hands together in her lap. "I understand. I'm sorry for not having the courage to say it sooner. If you want to listen, I will tell you everything, from beginning to end, without hiding anything anymore."

Bach Son nodded and waited silently. Nha Khanh took a deep breath, then began to tell the whole story - about the family's failing Duong Phat company, about Lam Viet Cuong, the seemingly perfect fiance who turned out to only be using her as a pawn, about the fateful stack of papers she signed in the name of bank procedures, about the panicked night of her escape, and about the journey that brought her to the gate of Doi Suong farm in the pouring rain that year.

She spoke slowly, sometimes choked with emotion, but did not avoid any details, including the parts that made her feel the most embarrassed - her naivety, her gullibility to the point of letting herself fall into the trap so easily. Bach Son sat quietly and listened, not interrupting, only occasionally squeezing his hands tighter when he heard painful details.

"So," he said when she finished, his voice low and somewhat sorrowful, "you endured all of this alone, from the time you were tricked to the time you ran away, with no one really standing by your side to protect you."

Nha Khanh nodded, tears welling up again. "Maybe that's why I always feel like I need to shoulder all the difficulties myself, and don't want to bother or drag anyone into my troubles anymore. I... I'm afraid that if I rely on anyone, I will end up being betrayed like before."

Bach Son was silent for a moment, then reached out and gently held her trembling hand, a completely natural gesture, not forced like he had performed for outsiders before. "You don't have to be alone anymore. From today, whatever happens, you have to tell me, whether good or bad. We are a family, even though it started with an agreement, but I no longer see it as just paperwork."

Nha Khanh looked up at him, tears rolling down but the corners of her lips curled up into a smile. "Thank you, Bach Son. Really thank you, for everything."

The two sat together for a long time that night, no longer the cold distance of the previous night, but instead a closer, deeper understanding than ever. Bach Son told her more about the difficulties he had experienced when he first brought Tue An to this land, about the nights he was alone while comforting his crying child while taking care of farm work, about the silent loneliness he had never dared to confess to anyone for three long years.

"I also thought, maybe I would live like that for the rest of my life, with only An and I relying on each other," he said, his voice low, his eyes looking distantly out the dark window. "But from the day you appeared, I realized, maybe I was wrong in thinking that I had to shoulder it all alone forever."

Nha Khanh was silent, his fingers tightly clasped together in his heart suddenly relaxed, a warmth spreading from his chest to his neck at the rare sincerity he gave her. She realized that the distance between them, which was built by clear rules in the marriage agreement, was now gradually erased by sincere moments like this, moments where both of them were no longer acting, no longer calculating the pros and cons, but simply two people sincerely sharing with each other their own wounds and hopes.

Before leaving the room, Bach Son stopped at the threshold and turned to look at her again. "About Trinh Khac Sang, we will find a solution together. You are not alone in this anymore, I promise."

The door closed, leaving Nha Khanh alone in the small room, but for the first time since the fateful night of her escape, she felt her heart was no longer heavy with loneliness and fear like before, but instead with a new, more steadfast belief that even though there were many storms ahead, she would no longer have to face them alone.

The next morning, the atmosphere in the house was warm again as before, even closer. Tue An, as if sensing that positive change, appeared unusually happy, chirpily pulling both her father and Nha Khanh's hands out to the garden to see the calves that had just grown a little bigger, babbling a few words but much clearer than in previous months.

During breakfast, Bach Son told Nha Khanh about the plan he was hatching to deal with the threat from Trinh Khac Sang. "I've been thinking, we can't just sit and wait in fear. Lawyer Khai knows a few people in the field of financial investigation. I will ask them to review all of your loan documents to see if there are any legal loopholes to overturn the case. This type of fraudulent document, if it proves that there was an element of fraud when signing, can completely be declared invalid before the law."

Nha Khanh listened, her eyes gradually brightened with a ray of hope that she had never dared to think about during the past half year. "Do you think there's a real possibility of winning the case?"

"Nothing is absolutely certain, but at least we have a clear direction, instead of just avoiding forever," Bach Son replied, his voice determined. "I will also ask Bich Tram to coordinate in collecting more evidence from the Saigon side, as much evidence as possible for both things - your debt case and my child custody case. Who knows, these two things can support each other."

Hearing that, Nha Khanh smiled slightly, a rare genuine smile since the day she set foot in this land. She realized that sharing the burden did not make her weaker as she had feared, but on the contrary, gave her a new strength, a feeling of true companionship for the first time since all the events hit her life.

"Thank you, for not leaving me alone to face all of this," she said, her voice sincere. "I promise, from now on I won't hide anything from you anymore, even the smallest thing."

Bach Son nodded slightly, his eyes stopped on her face for a long time, then suddenly smiled - a rare, gentle smile that Nha Khanh had never seen on this always serious man. "Then, let's face it all together, step by step."

That afternoon, Bach Son called lawyer Vuong Dinh Khai, detailed Nha Khanh's situation, and asked him for further advice on how to handle the child custody case. Lawyer Khai listened carefully, took note of every detail, and then arranged an official meeting with both husband and wife next week to come up with a specific plan.

"Ms. Khanh's case is quite typical of property appropriation scams hiding behind legal documents," lawyer Khai said over the phone, his voice full of confidence. "If it is proven that there are elements of deception and coercion in the signing process - such as not reading the content carefully, being deceived about the nature of the document - there is absolutely a basis to ask the court to invalidate the related transactions. As long as enough evidence is collected, I believe the possibility of success is not small."

Listening to those words through the phone speaker, Nha Khanh felt a new breath of vitality creeping through her body, different from the feeling of helplessness and despair of the previous months. She looked at Bach Son and saw that he was also looking at her, his eyes full of encouragement. In that moment, she suddenly realized that although the road ahead was still full of thorns, at least now she no longer had to walk in the dark alone. She gently held Bach Son's hand, not because she needed to act for anyone to see, but simply because she wanted to feel his steady presence beside her more clearly, and he did not pull his hand back, just gently squeezed it as a silent response.